


What Useless Tools, Ourselves

by butyoumight



Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-25
Updated: 2011-08-25
Packaged: 2017-10-23 01:27:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/244726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butyoumight/pseuds/butyoumight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Oh, and we owned all the tools ourselves, but not the skills to make a shelf with.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	What Useless Tools, Ourselves

**Author's Note:**

> For lazchan on Tumblr, who asked for fic where Don wasn't the punchline to a joke. I did my best!

Joe wasn't sure why the sailors suddenly decided he was the greatest threat. Marvelous was cutting them down as swiftly as he was, or nearly so. Luka wasn't quite up to their level yet, but she was sneaky and devious and did her fair share. But suddenly they all seemed to turn on him, overwhelming him with sheer numbers.

Joe heard Marvelous shout as three of them overpowered him, the strikes coming so fast that Joe lost count of the ones that hit him. He didn't notice a blue glow, but he could feel when the hits started to hurt more, started to break skin after the power of the Mobirates left him.

"Joe!" Luka's voice rang out as one of the Sugoumin captains grabbed him by the arm, lifted him, hauled back and threw him, high and far.

Joe sailed over the heads of many of the sailors, he hit the ground hard on his shoulder and heard something snap. He couldn't restrain a pained groan as he skidded to a stop inside the hollowed out wreckage of a small building, a single room.

The fight kept raging outside, Joe could hear it even over the ringing pain in his head where he'd struck a wall. He struggled to roll onto his side. His arm was shaking, and when he tried to lift himself up his arm refused to hold his weight.

"Don't, don't move, you're badly hurt." A soft little voice pierced the haze of pain clouding Joe's mind, gentle hands were on his arm, pulling weakly. "Please, let me help you."

"What are you doing here?" Joe gritted out between clenched teeth. "Why didn't you flee?"

He could see now, blinking away the blood that had trickled into his eyes and confused his vision. The boy leaning over him had light blond hair in a mess of curls, much like many of the natives of this planet, before Zangyack had come to start slaughtering these innocent people.

The boy shook his head. "Shh. Please." The boy shifted, pulled something to himself. A sheet, it came tumbling off the side of the charred bedstead Joe only now realized he was lying half-under.

Joe tried again to lift his injured arm. Outside, he could hear the sounds of battle fading slowly, but not the marching cadence of retreating troops, which meant that Marvelous and Luka must be overcoming the force on their own. He grimaced with a sick amusement at this fact, at knowing that if anything happened to him they'd be alright.

The boy's hands were on his arm, shifting, moving carefully up and down. He let out a soft chuckle that sounded oddly relieved. "It's not broken." He whispered to Joe, and Joe squinted at him curiously. He was a stranger, both to the planet and the boy. Why was he helping him? Except, of course, that Joe had obviously been fighting Zangyack. _The enemy of my enemy is my friend_ , Sid had told him that once and the adage had stuck with him, though it had little relevance to his life before he met Marvelous, and made an enemy of the entire Empire.

The boy shifted his grip and moved Joe's arm and Joe shouted in sudden pain. The boy blanched, his face going unfathomably pale. "Oh. Oh, it's dislocated. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, this is going to hurt quite a lot."

Joe frowned, his eyebrows furrowed. He'd dislocated his shoulder before, the same one in fact, during his training. Sid had set it for him then, but this slip of a boy didn't look at all like he had the strength to do the deed required.

Appearances were obviously deceiving, as the boy bit his lip, furrowed his brows, and set his grip, one hand high on Joe's shoulder near his neck, the other gripping his upper arm with a surprisingly vice-like grip. He grunted as he pulled Joe's arm around, and Joe answered with another shout of pain as bone scraped bone.

A modicum of relief swept over Joe as his joint slipped back together and he found himself panting softly as the boy moved away, wiping sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist.

"Better?" He asked in a light tone of voice that made it obvious he wasn't expecting an answer, and for good reason. While Joe certainly felt better on one level the rest of him was still in pain, his shoulder still ached and he had any number of open cuts on his arms, chest, and head. Simply put, he was a wreck. The boy smiled down at him and shook his head a little. "It's alright. It's the least I could do."

Outside, the sounds of battle had completely stopped, and Joe could clearly hear Marvelous and Luka calling his name, their voices seemed to get louder as they obviously got closer to this little wreck of a building.

"Joe? Is that your name?" The boy asked. He'd gathered the sheet up again, used his teeth to tear at the weave, allowing him to rip a long clean strip free. He shuffled forward on his knees, draping the cloth over his shoulder so he could use both hands to help ease Joe into a seated position.

"Yes." Joe answered, watching the boy curiously from the corners of his eyes, as he couldn't quite turn his head to look properly without inviting more pain. He doubled the cloth over on itself and leaned closer to Joe, gently lifting his arm and wrapping the makeshift bandage tight around in a familiar pattern, binding the joint in place.

He returned to the tattered sheet, tearing off another long strip that he deftly fashioned into a sling, slipping it around Joe's neck and gently settling his arm into it.

Joe blinked at him. "Thank you."

"It's nothing." The boy answered, though his cheeks became dusted with pink, and he was obviously pleased by Joe's feeble show of gratitude. "You were trying to protect us."

"We failed." Joe said, unmindful of the fact that really, they'd only been on this planet to stock the Galleon's kitchen and see about a rumor of something that Marvelous was sure would help lead them to the Greatest Treasure. Zangyack had simply gotten in the way.

"Joe!" Marvelous appeared in a hole in the battered building's wall, Luka right on his heels. He surveyed the scene in front of him with an approving eye, his gaze lingering for a moment on the boy as he kept tearing the remainder of the sheet into bandages. The Captain laughed. "You get thrown from battle and land in the lap of a doctor?"

"Oh!" The boy's blush darkened, reached his ears, he shook his head a little. Then a look came over him, a determined little squint at the corners of his eyes.

Joe smirked a little at his Captain. "I guess I'm lucky."

"Are you alright, Joe?" Luka asked, crossing the room to touch his bound shoulder gently.

"I'll be fine."

"He needs to rest it." The boy put in quickly.

"So long as he can stand, so we can get back to the ship." The Captain crossed after Luka, reaching down to take Joe's good arm and help him to his feet.

"So, Doctor." He said, looking at the boy. "I owe you a debt of thanks for looking after my first mate here." He lowered his voice, changed his tone to one Joe recognized. It was Marvelous' best attempt at tact, and it made Joe smirk. "There's not a lot left to this planet, I'm sorry to say. Would you like to come with us?"

Joe blinked up at Marvelous. Luka tilted her head.

"Him?" The former thief asked. "A pirate?"

Marvelous laughed again. "Well, we need a doctor, don't we?"


End file.
